More Motivational Stories On The Way!

One of my favorite parts about SparkPeople is reading all the amazing stories that come in from members. We literally have tens of thousands of great comments with new ones posted to the site every day.

I love finding these posts and sharing them with the SparkPeople team (along with other members of our team who help gather these great posts). These posts motivate us to continue improving the site every day. Seeing how the site impacts people in so many ways makes SparkPeople not really feel like "work" much of the time. Instead, it feels like we're all together on a mission to spark millions of people to reach their goals!

We share some of these posts using our weekly Community Highlights email. This is great, but it doesn't highlight the sheer volume of stories that come in. So, I finally realized that I should share these stories with members too in addition to our team using DailySpark posts. I'll start today and post stories regularly with a few comments from me. I won't promise to write every day, but will write as often as I can. I hope this helps you maintain your Fire and motivation to reach many goals!

Remember – you too can be a success story if you aren't already!

Here's one of my favorite recent posts. I love hearing about members getting together offline for local SparkRallys!

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kayweb555 has just submitted a new topic.

Title: 518 SP Team Picnic

Message: Friday was an exciting day for the 518 Team, we had our first
gathering. A quickly put together picnic for a team member who was coming 3 hours
to meet up with some of the team for encouragement and to share her new toy!
what a wonderful day we had sharing how we came to SP and what keeps us
coming back everyday. It was as if we had known each other for years.
I was blessed even more than the others for Sara was staying with me with
her wonderful Family! More than just healthy lifestyles are happening at
the different site pages, real friendships are being made. What a wonderful
blessing this site has been for me and for many. THANK~YOU SPARKGUY & YOUR
STAFF

Yes, I met 2 in my home town and last year in June I travelled to Israel and met a Spark Friend and then another one in London who travelled especially from Wales for the weekend to meet me. It was really great fun to meet my 2 overseas friends!!!
- 6/3/2010 12:25:09 AM

I love getting my Sparkfriends together. I was with one last weekend and this weekend I think there'll be at least a dozen of us meeting for a local cycling event. I've met my best friends through Spark. We share a common bond and interests right off the bat.
- 6/2/2010 8:28:07 PM

I love meeting other SparkPeople members in person! I've met several at a local SparkRally & at the Cincinnati convention. I even met another Sparker at church. And in 2 weeks, I'll be travelling across the state to attend an Ohio Buckeye Beauties picnic. As much as I enjoy the online friendships with fellow Sparkers, there's something special about finally getting to meet them in person!
- 6/2/2010 2:12:06 PM

I've met a couple of members when they happened to be in town for business. I would love to meet more people. I hope that Spark People will consider having a convention for the east coast members one day.
- 6/2/2010 9:45:27 AM

Recently we had a get together and shared stories, food, and SP tips. It was great! Also, some local SP friends and I have walked/hiked together. It's great to have the support in person, as well as online.
- 6/1/2010 7:29:53 PM

I met a Spark friend at the Desert Botanical Gardens, she was visiting the area from another state. Exercise!! It was great to meet her and we got to see the Chihuly exhibit at the same time.
- 6/1/2010 6:38:05 PM

I met my very first spark friend in Jamaica of all places! We met on another message board, where we found out we would both be in Jamaica at the same time. Then she recommended Spark to me, and we became spark friends! This was in 2007 and we met in Jamaica again in 2009, still keep in contact through e-mail, regular mail and the other message board.

I still have one other friend who I would love to meet! Hoping it may happen this summer too :)
- 6/1/2010 4:37:15 PM

I had a sparkfriend knock at my side door the other day; i was working in the back of the house and didn't hear the front door knock; she persisted; we had a wonderful talk and I met her daughter. I've been an encouragement to her. It absolutely made my day to meet her. Thanks sparkpeople.
- 6/1/2010 11:23:13 AM

Yes, I have met 2 and plan to meet more in the future! My family made fun of my cyber friends in the beginning, but they are so special to me and it is so fun to meet people from different places in the country. It is even better than the penpals people use to have as you get to know a whole group of people with different personalities and interact with them on a daily basis. One of the girls in our group lives in Canada. I would love to go there someday too!
- 6/1/2010 6:54:31 AM

I met my runnng partners QUIRKLES on Spark! We run together every weekend, travel to races and take our labs to the park to go swimming together. We only live 10 minutes apart, but wouldn't have met except for Spark. Last year, I traveled to Texas and we met two other Sparkfriends for the San Antonio Half Marathon -- we had a blast together. Also last year, I met another woman from Boston and a Sparkbuddy from Norway who was in town on business.

Over and over again, I have the experience of feeling instantly comfortable when I meet my sparkbuddies in real life. We talk for hours and feel like we've known each other forever! Knowing these woman in real life has enhanced my life immeasurably and helps keep me motivated when the going gets tough!
- 6/1/2010 5:56:09 AM

Shortly after I joined Spark and discovered the boards, I found Harrowjet - Judy was a member of Tops in Canada, and, AND she was going to the TOPS retreat in Sudbury Ontario.....so was I. So I would have met her anyway, but only through Spark did I actually know one of the attendees before hand....we met on the highway on the route to the retreat. At the retreat I also met gudy2shuz although I didn't know it. I met Diane again two years later also at the Sudbury retreat, and she recognized my posting ... LOL I was the one that drove her to the airport after the reatreat. I wish I could get together for walkies with someone within about a hundred kilometers. I could go to them for one of their trails, then they could come to the magnificent Bruce Peninsula and try one of my trails. Dawgies welcome, even dirty wet dogies in my car.
- 5/31/2010 7:28:58 PM

I have a Spark friend who I met a few months ago, and she has changed my life. Because of her, I eat better and get more exercise than I ever have before; she has lots of ideas and has been down the same roads as me. We regularly go on bike rides and runs, and she is more fit than me so she always pushes me to do more. We sometimes couldn't be more different! I have a houseful of kids, and she is a newlywed. But we have Spark in common and now we have a great friendship too. :)
- 5/31/2010 2:55:16 PM

My weight loss story was recently written up in a Front Page Story in our local Newspaper. I mentioned SparkPeople and gave the Editor permission to list my Spark Username in the article. Another Sparker here in town (ANNASPARKY) contacted me the evening that the Paper came out and we have walked together almost every night since then.
- 5/31/2010 12:00:10 PM

I was truly blessed to be able to attend to the Spark Your Life convention in Cincinatti in September. I met so many inspirational folks and of course the marvelous staff of Sparkpeople. My roommate Maha and I had a wonderful weekend we will never forget and the pictures of the convention still make me smile. After the convention, I visited with another Spark member Dawnwaterwoman. We have an almost mystical time together. This Saturday, I will meet a whole bunch more fellow Spark folks. I am running ( or walking) my very first 5K. I found that we have a team and I am really looking forward to meeting and making new friends. - 5/31/2010 11:58:52 AM

I've had friends sign on - but don't get as active as I am. They know how excited I am - but I guess it's just not their "thing" - yet! I have been blessed to meet sparkers twice at convention and also at a race - I've written before, as have they - it's the best "hanging" with like minded people! Any opportunity to "hook-up" with some sparkpeople is strongly encouraged!
- 5/31/2010 9:47:55 AM

Yes I've met some of my fellow sparklers and even though our team from Joplin could probably get together more, we don't. I had a really enjoyable visit with a lady from Nebraska which is at the top of Mo. She was passing through. I hope to meet some when I go to Washington D.C. next month.
- 5/31/2010 8:59:35 AM

I have met a few SparkPeople! My new best friend is BTaz63 and I see her every week for walks. I met a lovely lady from England, Fisefton, at Disney World and I am going to meet CCZMom at Disney's Animal Kingdom on June 10th. This is a fantastic website for bringing people together!
- 5/31/2010 8:26:22 AM

PJStime, I read my hometown paper online ( St Joe MO) and I read about you and your spark friends just now. Way to go! I walk with 2 spark friends where I live now. It's great to connect with people on here.
- 5/31/2010 7:26:22 AM

I have a great friend that joined, so of course, I know her :)... But there are two SP in particular that I would love to meet...they have been encouraging me since I signed up...I've even started my jogging career b/c of them - thought I was waaaayyy too old to start that ;)
- 5/31/2010 7:08:13 AM

I just met 2 sparkers for the 1st time Saturday. We signed up to do a 5k together. It was very exciting to meet and do the event together. We even got our picture in the paper and were able to spread the spark:)
- 5/31/2010 6:50:50 AM

Yes, I have. I actually have a Spark friend that walks with me and a couple of others that join us on occasion and have met 3 other local sparklers. But the best visits have been with my long distance Spark friends. Last summer my best friend here on Spark came all the way from Vancouver, Canada and stayed with me for 3 weeks. During this time, we went up to Lancaster, PA and met up with a spark friend who lives in upper PA and another who lives in NJ. We had a great 3 days together and saw lots of sites up there. And when I went to the airport to pick up my friend, a Spark friend from Baltimore came there to meet me and to help me pass the time. Then later on last summer she and her dh met up with my dh and I on the Boardwalk in Ocean City. I plan on going to visit a couple of my Spark friends this summer. I highly recommend getting together and meeting the friends you have created here on Spark.
- 5/31/2010 6:49:49 AM

I have told friends at the pool to log on and sign up so I knew them first then they become a sp friend. but I thought I saw someone that looked like their picture power walking down the street... from my home town city team
- 5/31/2010 2:37:32 AM

I joined with a group of friends, have met other people online and we've met in person, and I've run into people locally who I recognized from their SparkPage - so yes, I've met a lot of Spark People in person!
- 5/31/2010 1:10:00 AM

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